Bill 108 explained in plain English
Government of Ontario Buy Local Food Act, 2010
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
This Act requires Ontario government ministries spending over $25,000 annually on food to purchase local, local organic, or local sustainable food, with increasing minimum spending percentages and annual reporting requirements.
The Government of Ontario Buy Local Food Act, 2010 aims to encourage Ontario government ministries to purchase local food. It requires ministries that spend more than $25,000 on food annually to prioritize buying food that is local, local organic, or local sustainable. There are exceptions if these foods cost more than 10% higher than non-local options. The Act also sets minimum percentages of food spending that must go towards local, local organic, or local sustainable food, with these percentages increasing over time. Ministries will be required to report annually on their food purchases. The Lieutenant Governor in Council can make regulations to define standards for 'local sustainable' food.
- Requires Ontario government ministries that are likely to spend more than $25,000 on food in a year to buy food that is local, local organic, or local sustainable.
- Allows an exception if the cost of local, local organic, or local sustainable food is more than 10 per cent higher than the cost of food that is not local, local organic, or local sustainable.
- Sets minimum percentage requirements for spending on local food, and on local organic or local sustainable food, which increase in specific years (2012, 2015, 2020).
- Requires the Lieutenant Governor in Council to make regulations prescribing standards for 'local sustainable' food.
- Requires ministries subject to the Act to prepare and lay before the Legislative Assembly an annual report on their food purchases.
- Defines 'local', 'local organic', and 'local sustainable' food.
- States that the Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Ministries of the Government of Ontario that spend more than $25,000 annually on food.
- The Lieutenant Governor in Council (for regulation-making).
- The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (receives annual reports).
- Ministries must buy local, local organic, or local sustainable food unless it costs more than 10% higher than non-local alternatives.
- Ministries must meet minimum percentage spending requirements on local, local organic, or local sustainable food, which increase over time.
- Ministries must prepare an annual report on food purchases.
- The Lieutenant Governor in Council has the power to create regulations defining 'local sustainable' food standards.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent (Commencement provision).
- Section 3 of the Act applies beginning in the first calendar year after the Act comes into force.
- Minimum spending requirements begin on January 1, 2012 (10% for local food).
- Increased minimum spending requirements begin on January 1, 2015 (15% for local food, 5% for local organic or sustainable).
- Further increased minimum spending requirements begin on January 1, 2020 (20% for local food, 10% for local organic or sustainable).
- Annual reporting is required starting in the first calendar year after the Act comes into force, with reports due by April 1 of the following year.
- The Act requires ministries to spend a minimum percentage of their food budget on local, local organic, or local sustainable food.
- There is a 10% cost threshold exception for purchasing local, local organic, or local sustainable food.
- The Act does not specify penalties for non-compliance.
- The definition of 'local' requires at least 80% of direct production costs to be returned to Ontario's economy, but how this is precisely measured or enforced is not detailed in the provided text.
- The Act allows for exceptions if local, local organic, or local sustainable food costs more than 10% higher than non-local alternatives, but the exact method of calculating this 10% difference per purchase is not fully detailed.
- The specific environmental and social sustainability standards for 'local sustainable' food are to be prescribed by regulation and are not detailed in the Act itself.
- The text does not specify which ministries are considered 'subject to this Act' beyond those likely to spend more than $25,000 on food.
The Act will come into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Source: Section 9
The Act applies to ministries that are likely to spend more than $25,000 on food in a year.
Source: Section 2
The Act defines 'local', 'local organic', and 'local sustainable' food.
Source: Section 1
Allows the Lieutenant Governor in Council to make regulations prescribing standards for 'local sustainable' food.
Source: Section 8 (1)
Requires ministries subject to the Act to prepare and table an annual report on their food purchases.
Source: Section 7
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced